with jury participation

assassination case

Yesterday, the Prosecutor General's Office transferred to the Moscow Regional Court the case of the assassination attempt on the head of RAO UES of Russia, Anatoly Chubais. Retired GRU colonel Vladimir Kvachkov and two former paratroopers Robert Yashin and Alexander Naydenov were charged with committing this crime. The accused did not admit their guilt. They hope to prove their case in a jury trial.

Yesterday, one of the deputy prosecutor generals approved the indictment prepared by investigator Nikolai Ushchapovsky, after which the case was sent to court. Vladimir Kvachkov, Robert Yashin and Alexander Naydenov were charged under five articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: encroachment on the life of a statesman or public figure; attempted murder of two or more persons, committed in a socially dangerous manner by a group of persons by prior conspiracy; in illegal transactions with weapons and explosives, as well as in the intentional destruction or damage of property. Investigator Ushchapovsky believes that the accused, together with the son of the former head of the State Press Committee, Boris Mironov, Ivan, and the son of Vladimir Kvachkov, Alexander (Ivan Mironov and Alexander Kvachkov are wanted) conspired for extremist reasons to kill Anatoly Chubais. The group members, having assigned roles in advance, rented an apartment not far from Anatoly Chubais’s place of residence and began to monitor him. They managed to establish a schedule for his car. Vladimir Kvachkov, using the skills acquired in the service, made a bomb, and his accomplices carried out the assassination attempt, after which the retired colonel in his personal Saab car took all participants in the attack from the scene. The accused were unable to complete their plan due to circumstances beyond their control - Mr. Chubais’s car turned out to be armored, which they did not know about.

In addition, Alexander Naydenov was accused in another criminal case - the murder of crime boss Vyacheslav Dunaev, committed in 1996. Alexander Naydenov was already tried for this in 1999, but the court acquitted him, finding that he was guilty only of illegal possession of weapons and explosives. During the investigation into the assassination attempt on Anatoly Chubais, the case of the murder of Vyacheslav Dunaev was resumed, and Alexander Naydenov was charged.

The Prosecutor General's Office sent the criminal case to court, despite the fact that only Robert Yashin and Alexander Naydenov signed the order to complete familiarization with its materials. Vladimir Kvachkov refused to do this, believing that he was illegally limited in the time frame for familiarization. “We filed a cassation appeal against the court’s decision to limit the time limit, which will be considered by the Moscow City Court on March 6,” lawyer Aleftin Moshansky told Kommersant. “But they did not wait. If our cassation appeal is satisfied, I don’t know how they will get out of this situation "The matter will already be in court." According to the lawyer, even if the cassation appeal is denied, at the preliminary hearing of the case in the Moscow Regional Court, Vladimir Kvachkov will state that he is not ready for the trial, since he did not have time to read the case to the end, and will ask to be given additional time.

Unlike the main accused, his accomplices will not make such a request to the court. “Despite the fact that, by limiting the time limit for familiarization with the case materials, the court violated the rights of my client Naydenov, we managed to prepare for the trial and are looking forward to its start,” lawyer Ruslan Koblev told Kommersant. Robert Yashin’s defender Ruslan Zakalyuzhny adheres to the same position. Both lawyers believe that if the trial is unbiased, their clients will be able to prove their innocence. This is why they will ask for a jury trial. The only thing the defense fears is that the trial will be declared closed. “In this case, our clients will be left alone with the prosecution, which will be much easier to achieve the desired verdict behind closed doors,” said lawyer Koblev. According to the defense lawyer, there are no legal grounds for declaring the process closed yet. But, in his opinion, the Prosecutor General’s Office can achieve this, “for which it will be enough for it to call at least one document in the case secret.”

ALEXANDER Kommersant-ZHEGLOV

Vladimir Kvachkov faces secret trial